


Cat Caro Obfuscates the Way

by WotanAnubis



Category: Cultist Simulator (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Hidden meanings, I don't know how to tag this, Secrets, Two People Chatting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 18:48:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16225121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WotanAnubis/pseuds/WotanAnubis
Summary: In which a Hunter doesn't know what she's hunting.





	Cat Caro Obfuscates the Way

Connie Lee walked gaudily-lit alleyways trying not to catch the eye of tonight's drunken revelers. This wasn't the sort of neighborhood she usually frequented, but the Bureau had tasked her with interviewing a suspect here so that was that. Nobody at the Bureau had informed why the suspect was a suspect. That sort of information was 'need to know' and, for some reason, Connie did not need to know. She was only supposed to ask a few questions, see what answers she got, that kind of thing. Nothing too involved. Not yet.

But even though Connie did not need to know why she was tasked with this, she did have a pretty shrewd guess. The whole city was alive with rumors of the so-called 'Wildwood Club'. Nobody actually knew who its members were or what its goals were or even if it actually existed at all. The police felt that with a name like Wild Wood, it could be nothing but a consortium of anarchists. The higher-ups at the Suppression Bureau had their own opinions on the matter, but they weren't in the habit of sharing their opinions with anyone.

Nevertheless, because of those secret opinions, Connie now walked up to a moldering old building covered in desperately cheerful posters. The art was pretty good, Connie had to admit, but the all-capitals slogans were depressing. The Astounding So-and-So and His Lovely Assistant Such-and-Such Reveal the Dark Mysteries of the Mysterious Orient. That kind of thing. Sleight of hand and mirrors, no doubt.

The inside of the building was dimly lit and smoky with incense. Images of prowling tigers, trumpeting elephants and coiling dragons covered the walls. Better than the tacky posters outside, but still not particularly impressive. A helpful, but curiously nondescript employee, informed her that the Astonishing Cat Caro didn't have any performances scheduled for tonight, but that she was available in her private sanctum for personal readings.

The 'private sanctum' turned out to be rather small, round room. A small, round table stood in the middle of the room with - Connie tried not to sigh out loud - a crystal ball. There were shelves crammed with weathered books, flickering candles and, for some reason, one rather antique lantern. Collections of winged insects had been pinned to the wall to no apparent purpose.

A bead curtain rustled and Cat Caro herself appeared in the room. She was dressed in a black-and-yellow cheongsam. Or, rather, was dressed in something that looked it had been made by someone who'd once had a cheongsam described to them, but had never actually seen one. Her smile was friendly and infectious and her eyes appeared to glow with some inner light.

"Welcome, seeker, to..." Cat Caro began. She stopped when she got a good look at Connie and blinked twice. Every time her eyes were closed, the room seemed to darken. "Miss Lee? Miss Connie Lee?"

"Just so," said Connie. "And you'd be Cat Caro?"

"Naturally," Cat Caro said. She gestured to a chair at the table. "Pray, be seated."

Connie sat down, and so did Cat Caro.

"I see my reputation precedes me," Connie said.

"How it could not?" said Cat Caro, with a bright smile. "You were on the front pages for months. The hysterical harridan heiress shrilly demanding women should have the right to vote? The press loved to hate you. Allow me to take this opportunity to thank you. You did much for me. Us."

"It wasn't just me," Connie said. "It was the whole suffragette movement."

"Of course," said Cat Caro. "Anyway, to business. You have come to me seeking insight into the future, have you not?"

"Yes," Connie replied. "I'd read some of your columns in the _Kerisham Review_ and wanted to see you in person."

Actually it had been someone at the Bureau who'd read the _Kerisham Review_ and had sent Connie out to meet the author of its astrology column. It always surprised Connie that the Bureau kept such a close eye on the _Review_. To Connie it always seemed like so much sensationalist nonsense. But the Bureau took every issue seriously, which rather raised the question why the Suppression Bureau hadn't yet got around to, well, suppressing the publication.

"That's often the case," Cat Caro said. "Personal readings are always much more accurate than generalized ones. But even so, I ought to warn you. The future is not set in stone and there are as many futures as there are histories and I cannot guarantee the one I see is the one that'll come to pass."

Connie hoped the sudden rush of excitement she felt didn't show on her face. The Bureau was not big on sharing anything with anyone and although they were happy to accept Connie's financial assistance, they were a lot more reluctant to share anything in return. And one of the things they didn't share was all about history. There was an entire department wholly dedicated to scrutinizing and censoring every history book on the market, from the densest academic text to the most colorful children's book.

Connie wasn't entirely certain why this was so, though she did have her suspicions. Her foreign adventures had led her to all sorts of places and sites of archeological interest. There she'd found too many contradictions in the various historical records to be chalked up to sloppy record keeping.

No, there was definitely something... _wrong_... with history. Something the Bureau was very concerned about. Question was, did Cat Caro actually know about any of this, or was she just being dramatic in the way her profession required of her?

"Of course there are many futures," Connie said. "But surely there can only be just the one history?"

Cat Caro laughed and the air seemed to glitter. "Ah, you know what they say. One man's righteous leader is another's brutal oppressor."

"Oh," said Connie. "Of course."

"But the future, now, that's different," Cat Caro said. "In my experience everyone has at least three futures."

"And what futures would those be?"

"The future they desire, the future they fear, and the future they'll get. Which of these three interests you today?"

"I see. The actual future will do me just fine," said Connie.

"And, I'm sorry to have to ask this, but... how will you be paying?"

Connie raised an eyebrow. "This place takes cheques?"

"I'd prefer a coin," Cat Caro said. "But yes."

"Cash, then," Connie said.

"Splendid. Would you prefer I read your palm or shall we see what my crystal ball illuminates?"

Connie put her hand on the table, palm up. "If you'd be so kind."

Cat Caro's expression became serious and she took Connie's hand. When Cat Caro touched her, Connie felt a peculiar warmth. As though motes of light ran up her arm and spread through her body.

"You have a very firm lifeline," Cat Caro declared after a moment. "I expect a long and healthy life for you."

Connie resisted to urge to reply with something like _Of course you do_. Not a lot of fortune tellers foresaw a short and agonizing life. Not any fortune teller that wanted to stay in business.

"But... hmm..." Cat Caro frowned. "You walk a strange path. It might plunge you into icy darkness or lift you into bright ecstasy, but you would be wise the avoid both. In fact-" And here Cat Caro looked up and straight into Connie's eyes. "It would be wisest of all to abandon the path you're on."

"Why would you say that?"

"There are things people are better off not knowing. Secrets they shouldn't learn. I don't know what you're doing right now, but it might lead you to seeing too much."

Connie kept her face impassive. That sounded very much like the Suppression Bureau's mission statement. Was this a test? Was Cat Caro secretly another Bureau agent? Were her superiors trying to find out if she was maybe _too_ eager to uncover the truth?

"Well," Connie said, trying to sound casual. "I've always led an adventurous life. I don't really intend to stop."

"No, I don't imagine you would," Cat Caro said.

Cat Caro let get go of Connie's hand and Connie felt the light drain out of her body.

"I'm sorry. That's about as much as I'm willing to share about your future."

"Alright," said Connie. "Then... you are a mystic... do you, by chance, interpret dreams?"

"Dreams?" Cat Caro. "Yes, I suppose I have some knowledge of dreams."

"Ah, good," Connie said, with a smile of relief. "I've been having this weird, recurring dream and I'd value your opinion on it."

"By all means. I'd be happy to hear it," Cat Caro said.

"At first I'm in this forest," Connie began, "It's dark and chaotic, but I know that if I just manage to get through it, I'll reach... I don't know... a house or something. And then I am out of the woods and here are all these doors that I don't know how to open and yet, somehow, I know that behind one of these doors there's some glorious thing I want."

Of course Connie hadn't dreamed anything of the sort. They were just the lines the Bureau had fed her. They didn't make sense to her and, as usual, nobody at the Bureau had explained anything about them.

In fact, Connie hadn't had a dream in months. Every agent of the Suppression Bureau (except for those on 'special assignment') had to take a preparation to make sure they wouldn't dream.

Cat Caro looked at her for a few seconds too long. Perhaps the lines did mean something to her.

"I wonder, are you single?" Cat Caro asked, smiling brightly.

Connie blinked. She hadn't been expecting _that_. "I am, as a matter of fact."

"Yes, I thought so," said Cat Caro. "Well, it's a perfectly straightforward dream. The woods are of course very lonely, yes? Representing how lost you are without a partner. The different doors are all different possible men, naturally. The dark and handsome type, the wealthy bachelor, the dashing rogue, that sort of thing. But you can't open those doors and reach the glory beyond them because a man isn't actually what you need. What you need is a woman."

Connie closed her astonished mouth. "That's... that's not... A woman, really?"

"Of course," said Cat Caro brightly. "To prevent any kind of criminality."

"I'm sure my dream doesn't mean that," Connie said.

"Believe as you wish," Cat Caro said. "And now, I'm afraid, our time is up. I hope you found it enlightening."

"Unexpected, certainly," Connie said.

"Well, even so, I hope you'll remember what I said," Cat Caro said. "About the path you're walking down."

"Yes, of course," Connie said politely. "Now, how much do I owe you?"

Less than a minute later, Connie found herself out on the street again. The night seemed darker somehow, even though she hadn't been inside all that long.

So. That had been Cat Caro. The troublemaker the Bureau had supposedly been worried enough about to send an agent after her. Well, their worries were pretty unfounded. A show woman and a charlatan, that's all she was. Charismatic, in her own way, but not a threat.

Still, she'd write up a report and include as much as she could remember. Possibly someone higher up the chain would find anything of interest in the whole exchange, though Connie kind of doubted it. In any event, she'd be glad to get this whole waste of time over with.

And, with any luck, maybe next time the Bureau would send her after someone who was actually involved in something nefarious.


End file.
